‘X-Men’ Star Ian McKellen Remembers Patrick Stewart in a Heartfelt Tribute to His Friend of Half a Century
The death of Sir Patrick Stewart has drawn tributes from across Hollywood and the theater world. The beloved actor died at 86 at his Los Angeles home on Wednesday, and his family shared that he had been on a brief journey with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia, cared for by his wife, Sunny Ozell.
Few people knew Stewart as well as Sir Ian McKellen. The 2 actors first crossed paths at the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 1970s and went on to share some of the most memorable screen and stage partnerships of their careers, building a friendship that lasted decades.
Now McKellen has shared a moving tribute to his late friend on social media. He began by describing how deeply Stewart was shaped by Yorkshire, the county in the north of England where he was born and raised and which he loved until the end.
McKellen said you could hear Yorkshire in Stewart’s voice and in the blunt honesty with which he told people what he thought and felt. Calling him someone who wore his heart on his sleeve, McKellen said that openness made Stewart a man to rely on and admire, and someone he personally loved.
The tribute was warm and personal, reflecting the kind of bond that rarely forms between 2 actors of the same generation. McKellen also shared one of his first strong memories of Stewart. They met as young actors at the Royal Shakespeare Company, but never appeared in the same productions there.
A few years later, McKellen ran into Stewart on a street in central London, where Stewart told him he had been offered a leading role in ‘Star Trek’. McKellen recalled cautioning his friend about the risk of leaving the UK stage and getting lost in Hollywood.
Stewart took the chance anyway, and McKellen said he was grateful he did. He noted that Stewart’s international fame let him star in hit films like ‘X-Men’ while continuing to perform classic plays by Shakespeare, Ibsen, Arthur Miller, Pinter and Beckett on stages in Stratford-upon-Avon, London’s West End and Broadway.
SIR PATRICK STEWART (1940-2026) Before everything else, Patrick was defined by being born and bred in Yorkshire, the proud county in the north of England which he loved to the end. You could hear it in his accented voice and in the stern honesty with which he told you what he thought and felt. Yorkshiremen have no truck with half-truths or avoidance of big issues. He wore his heart on his sleeve, which made him a man to rely on, to admire and in my case, love. We first met as ambitious young actors with the Royal Shakespeare Company half a century ago but we weren’t in the same productions. My first strong memory was a few years later, meeting him in the street in central London when he told me about an offer to take over a leading part in ‘Star Trek’. “But Patrick think of your stage career in the UK. Do you really want to risk—getting lost in Hollywood for years and years?”. Well, he took the risk and thank goodness for us all that he did for not just his devoted Trekkies but film and theatre audiences, who marvelled at his using international celebrity to star in a string of cinema successes (‘X-Men’ of course) and in great classical plays by Shakespeare, Ibsen, Arthur Miller, Peter Shaffer, Pinter and Beckett at Stratford-upon-Avon, in London’s West End and on Broadway. America was his adopted home, where he met his adored Sunny who has cared for him through sickness and health, through thick and thin. But he never forsook his origins: and the proudest achievement of the most respected and beloved actor of his generation on either side of the Atlantic, was his appointment as Chancellor of Huddersfield University in Yorkshire. His farewell performance in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ is yet to be seen. Ian McKellen 29 October 2026 Photo: University of Huddersfield
— Ian McKellen (@IanMcKellen) October 30, 2026
Their friendship grew stronger once they joined the ‘X-Men’ films, with Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier and McKellen as Magneto. Their on-screen rivalry as old friends turned opponents became one of the franchise’s defining relationships. They also brought that chemistry to the stage. The pair starred together in ‘Waiting for Godot’ in 2009 and ‘No Man’s Land’ in 2013, earning acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic.
McKellen described America as Stewart’s adopted home, where he met Ozell, whom McKellen said cared for him through sickness and health. Still, he stressed that Stewart never forgot his roots.
According to McKellen, the achievement Stewart was proudest of was being appointed Chancellor of Huddersfield University in Yorkshire, a fitting honor for a man so proud of where he came from.
McKellen closed his tribute by noting that Stewart’s farewell performance in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ is still to come. Stewart returns as Professor X in the Russo brothers’ film, which opens in theaters on December 18, and McKellen is also part of the cast.
That means fans will get one last chance to see the 2 legends share the screen. Their final scenes together will surely carry extra emotional weight for audiences who grew up watching them.
Many others have also paid tribute, including Hugh Jackman, Jonathan Frakes, William Shatner, and the Royal Shakespeare Company, which called Stewart one of the finest classical actors of his generation. For McKellen, though, the loss is clearly deeply personal.
Which Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen collaboration do you remember most fondly?
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